DESCRIPTION (Investigator's Abstract): "The long-term objectives of this project are the investigation, development and evaluation of speech processing devices and algorithms for use in microcomputer-based speech training aids. The strength of the current system, the Indiana Speech Training Aid (ISTRA), is that speech drill provides feedback concerning the speech quality of syllables, whole-words or short phrases. Feedback is based on a comparison between the acoustic details of an utterance and a stored acoustic template. Speech drill, in video-game format, are appropriate for a wide-variety of speech disorders seen in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children and adults. The first generation ISTRA I will be upgraded using a new commercial speech recognizer (Scott SIR) evaluated during Phase I. The ISTRA system will be clinically evaluated at locations, including local elementary schools and a residential school for the deaf. A direct comparison will be made between the effectiveness of speech training by teachers using traditional methods and those methods enhanced by ISTRA drill. Speech recognition performance of a speaker-independent speech recognizer, and of a newly developed phonetic-articulatory speech recognition algorithm will be evaluated for use in the next generation of speech training aids."